News

Practitioner Teacher Evening at the Faculty of Pharmacy

3 June 2010

The Faculty of Pharmacy hosted a welcome evening for its 2010 practitioner teachers on Tuesday evening the 1st June. Welcoming the practitioner teachers and other Faculty staff, Professor Iqbal Ramzan, Dean of Pharmacy, spoke of the value of the practitioner teacher program.

"Practitioner-teachers can give a different perspective on pharmacy issues and curriculum topics to our students because you're out there on the ground every day, it adds huge value to have you as part of the Faculty, and we consider you a very important member of eth academic family" he said.

Professor Ramzan also referred to the change in structure of the faculty from research disciplines to the new research themes of cancer, respiratory diseases, cardiovascular and diabetes healthy ageing and mental health and advised that the Faculty would be looking to its practitioner teachers for suggestions as to how their experience and expertise could add value to each of these streams.

Introducing the newly appointed Associate Dean of Learning and Teaching, Professor Paul Groundwater, the Pro-Dean Professor Jo-Anne Brien reiterated that any input from the practitioner teachers was always welcome and that she and Professor Groundwater looked forward to many more conversations with the group throughout the year that would help develop the curriculum even further.

The practitioner teachers are either the owners of pharmacies, career pharmacists or hospital pharmacists who teach into the Bachelor of Pharmacy and Master of Pharmacy programs about the practicalities of pharmacy once they leave university.

Students in years 2 to 4 of the undergraduate professional degree are tutored on the procedures within a community or hospital pharmacy setting, the basis for clinical advice, how they communicate with their clients and in general provide advice as to what should happen in practice.

Some practitioner teachers are also recruited for their specialised knowledge in a particular area; for example, diabetes, nutrition or asthma. They deliver lectures on their particular subject area, design tutorials for the specific area and in some cases they also train other practitioner teachers.